Eating Stones

[Guest]

Just wondering if any Lab owners have had their pups picking up pebbles to chew on them, and if you think that it would be dangerous? if I notice ours doing it I try to get them out of his mouth right away.

Also At the moment he is on Purina puppy dry food 2 cups per meal 3 times a day as well as prota pet chicken fritz, about 2inches, each meal, the vet said not to give him any raw meat until he is 12 months old.

I find when he poo's his first one for the day is very firm but after that quite soft, is this normal, for a pup, 9 months.

lablove

[Lab lady]

Yes it can be dangerous it can quite easily cause a blockage.

No raw Meat i wean mine on to raw meat and they have it all their life. Not a big fan of those prepared meat things, i think fresh raw meat would be much better IMO. Also by nine months there is really no need for 3 meals a day. My Labs get a very small offering in the morning and their main meal at night.

Are you feeding bones?

[persephone]

Hi

Does your pup have interesting toys, and lots of bones to chew?

pebbles are fun for dogs- they feel nice on the tongue, they make noise.... but they can cause awful trouble if swallowed. It is your job to find stuff that is more interesting than pebbles ;)

Oh- and each time you dash up to him, and say "oh- what have you got in your mouth".. and remove the pebble... he is getting your attention , because he picked up a pebble! So- that is a reward for doing it

So- a large kong filled with treats and frozen... perhaps a couple of soft drink bottles with his kibble in .. .so he has to toss the bottles around to get food ... a soccer ball to kick/push around ... and some nice bones The lab folks will probably have better ideas .

the vet said not to give him any raw meat until he is 12 months old.

And the reasoning was? Does your dog have some sort of health problem?

Many pups are weaned onto a raw diet ... and many more are fed a balanced raw diet from when they go to their new homes.

Raw meat/bones should not ordinarily be a problem for a dog like yours .

if he is fed better quality food ,with bone content, you will find he poos less, and there should be no sloppiness. ;)

[Lyla]

I also ween my Lab pups onto raw / kibble.

At the end of the day they are dogs and if they were in the wild what would they eat? Raw meat plus whatever else they could scavange.

I also had a dog who would eat stones. I only knew because each time i picked up his poo I would see pieces in it. Maybe large marrow bones which can't be easily devoured would be a good distraction. Calling him to play with a toy might also be a good way to get him to drop a stone without making a big deal of it if you catch him in the act.

[Guest]

Hi Lab lady, peresephone , thanks for your comments

I thought it strange that he couldn't be on raw meat at nine months, we haven't as yet given him any bones, he is picking up the pebbles while im playing ball with him we kick a soccer ball around and also play catch a tennis ball, and he has lots of chew toys.

Will definately get a big bone for him.

Lab doesn't have health problem , we only took him to the vet as he had an allergic reaction to an insect bite we think, or something in the yard , after having an anti histamine injection he was alright,

I was a bit concerned when he had the allergy reaction that it might have been because when we first bought him home I made up some patties with minced steak minced lamb vegies ie potatoe pumpkin a little bit of broccoli, and a raw egg and crushed egg shell, and was wondering after that if it could have been the egg and shell or something else that was in the mixture that gave him the reaction, so have only fed him on the other since.

Would pieces of lamb flap with the bone in be ok ? or do you think minced with bone in is better?

Thanks lablove

[Guest]

Thanks je2910, the more I'm hearing about Labs being on raw the more I feel confident on putting him on raw diet you are right they dont find packets of dog food in the wild.

I tried the distraction bit, but he was very determined to have the stone.

When you say kibble, what exactly is that?

lablove

[aussielover]

My pup will eat anything!

She even those disgusting worming pills! Also, furniture, sticks, plants etc.

[Lyla]

When you say kibble, what exactly is that?

lablove

Kibble = dry food

[ophnbark]

We had a pebble eater once and nothing would stop her eating them. Some days her poop was like a cement mixer Could never get her out of the habit. We couldn't get all of the pebbles up as she would still find them but problem was fixed when we moved to a place with no pebbles.

[Niques]

James used to chew pebbles. I think he's grown out of it - haven't seen him at it in a while. I stopped being too concerned when I realised that he had no intention of eating them and instead just preferred to crunch them up and spit them out. He's moved on to eating mud instead

Give him actual bones rather than just minced frames and such - J. gets lamb off-cuts, soup bones, lamb shanks, chicken frames etc. Good for the teeth.

[persephone]

Bones- lamb flaps are ok- but they will put a heap of weight on him, with not much chewing

he needs something which takes more than 2 minutes to eat

get him chicken carcasses(frames), or larger beef brisket bones, or roo tails .

Introduce stuff gradually ... and definitely cut back on teh kibble when he is eating meaty stuff .. or you may end up with a tubby boy!

Can we see photos of the rock monster?

have a look through HERE - heaps of info for you

Edited June 15, 2010 by persephone

[Nekhbet]

is he getting 6 cups of food a day O_o wowee thats more then my 60kg dogue de bordeaux!

find yourself a new vet ASAP. How ignorant. Your dog needs protein from natural sources, he's 9 months old and only needs 2 meals a day at most. I would make the last meal simply some carcasses or lamb flaps. He's eating waaaay too much

[Miranda]

Hmm, no offence but I wouldn't have much confidence in a vet who thinks that dogs can't eat raw meat until they're twelve months. Your dog doesn't need three meals a day and I'd recommend that you drop the chicken fritz, most of those processed dog meats are rubbish, use some raw meat or some canned sardines or mackerel. Also offer him brisket bones, chicken frames and lamb flaps, something he can chew.

Regarding the stone eating, most puppies grow out of it.

[Guest]

Thanks all for your helpfull advice.

lablove

[mrs tornsocks]

My lab loved rocks too when he was a baby, they just love getting anything in their mouth !

We tried to teach him 'leave it' or 'drop it' from an early age, and he'll now pretty much 'leave' anything he has in his mouth, including food.

You can teach your pup this with anything, toy etc. As someone mentioned earlier, just have a yummy treat on hand, give him the instruction (we say 'leave it'), and the second he drops it, praise him and treat him. Or a clicker is good too.

Feed the man meat.